Empyrium

Empyrium
Governmental Information
Common Name	Empyrium
Official Name	The Empyrium
Organization Type	Despotic Empire
Head of State	Emperor of the Empyrium
Legislature	None (de jure) Imperial Conference (de facto)
Societal Information
Capital World	San Rysolith (Greater Empyrium) Alkid (Lesser Empyrium) Primio (Universal Space) Deira-4 (Western Reaches) Laconia (New Colonies)
Official Language	Empyrian
Demographics
Demonym	Empyrean
Dominant Species	Empyrians
Other Species	Humans (Eosians)
Astrography
Rim	Outer rim (Laconia) Center rim Mid rim Inner rim (Alkid)
Quadrant	Gamma Quadrant Delta Quadrant
Galaxy	Milky Way
Historical Information
Other
Created by	Peter
Controlled by	Peter

The Empyrium is a collective of star systems located northwest of the galactic centre, extending over portions of the Mid Rim and Center Rim. Empyrium is formed by 5 units - Greater Empyrium, Lesser Empyrium, Universal Space including semi-autonomous regions: the Western Reaches and the New Colonies. There are a total of 63 systems, and the capital is San, however regional capital worlds exist.

Functionally, the Empyrium is an authoritarian empire dominated by the Imperial Authority, but whose actual power varies from system to system and from world to world. There are five symbolic regions - the formerly separatist Western Reaches now holding the purpose-built, symbolic capital city of the empire on San. The Emperor still resides on the planet Alkid, legally the true capital, in the Empyrium system. Politically authoritarian in nature, the Empyrium can (and does) exercise absolute power over some of its worlds. The actual degree of freedom varies from world to world, with San and most other capital worlds having an incredible degree of personal freedom and autonomy from the despots, whereas resourcefully important planets and new colony worlds see the most subjugation.

The Empyrium contains some of the biggest and most luminous stars in the galaxy, for example Iota Ophiuchi and Eta Occidens, so named due to their visibility in constellations from Yata. The Earendel system contains one of the most luminous stars known, calculated to be at least 1 million times more luminous than Sol. The Empyrium contains tens of thousands of systems, of which hundreds are known to be inhabited. However, only 63 systems are integrated member states that have joined the Empyrium.

The Empyrium uses two major calendars: the Imperial calendar (zero date = 919 BCE) and the Eosian calendar (zero date = 462 CE).

History

The Empyrium first emerged on Empyrium Ac, better known as Alkid. After successfully establishing hegemony over nearby star systems, the Empyrium begun deeper expansion into the Center Rim, colonising what now constitutes the home worlds of the Lesser Empyrium region. Initially, faster-than-light technology barred them from reaching the expanse of Greater Empyrium or the home worlds of Lithid and Alsujin, however the discovery of rare resources in the lithosphere of Pertel-4 paved the way for technological advancement.

Until a few centuries ago, the Empyrium was a confederation of its regions rather than its systems, that ultimately answered to the Lesser Empyrium hegemony based on Alkid. As more and more worlds grew prosperous, culminating in the discovery of the type W star San in the Western Reaches (which led to the establishment of a flourishing colony world, enriched by abundant heavy metals in the system), the Western Reaches to try to split from the collective. The collective soon became embroiled in anti-Imperial conflict, however this was soon eased when the Emperor introduced the Imperial System, restricting the Imperial Authority to less rich worlds. This began the divide between the so-called "free worlds" and the "system worlds" still under the Imperial Authority. The former regions therefore became symbolic in nature, but still retain major importance in the border control system.

The most recent star system to join the Empyrium was Earendel - a population III star with zero major natural satellites. A small colonial outpost was established in its orbit to stage expeditions to the Outer Rim, but these never occurred thanks to Earendel unexpectedly undergoing a Supernova, destroying all settlements in its orbit.

Astrography

There are thousands of known systems within the Empyrium contained within 39 sectors, of which 63 are member systems. 33 of these systems are in Greater Empyrium, 10 are in Lesser Empyrium, 9 are in the Western Reaches, 11 are in the New Colonies, and 1 is in Universal Space. The most populous system is the San system, containing the planets San-2 and Eos, with roughly 160 billion people between them. The least populous systems are Earendel (with only a transient scientific population studying the nebula) and Estoxxhe, whose space station houses around 200,000 inhabitants. Primio is the least populous star system, with only 32 million inhabitants. For the most part, Empyrium systems are either in the Mid Rim or Center Rim, however there are a few notable exceptions: Alkid and Primio are within the Inner Rim, whereas Laconia is the empires only Outer Rim system.

The Empyrium straddles the Delta and Gamma quadrants of the Milky Way Galaxy. Its territories occupy 16 of its grid quadrants (of which 11 contain member systems.) It is 17,600 light years at its widest, and 12,570 light years on its perpendicular axis. It bulges roughly 950 light years either way of the galactic plane, i.e the galaxy's zero point for "height" that forms the galactic disc. At its closest point, it is 16,200 light years from the Galactic Center.

Viewed from the Alpha Sol system, the Empyrium is 42,900 light years away and subtends 20 degrees of arc (which, in traditional astrography, covers a right ascension of 5°-25°), which is roughly twenty-times the angular diameter of Luna when viewed from Yata. It is situated between the (Inchyrosian) constellations of Ophiuchus, Sagittarius, and Scutum.

The Empyrium is largely connected by a faster-than-light travel network that it is reliant upon due to the presence of hundreds, if not thousands, of spacetime anomalies. These anomalies largely hinder FTL travel for a variety of reasons. Some estimate that up to 9% of the Empyrium is covered by said anomalies - the largest of which, the aptly-named Alkidian Superanomaly, covers roughly 3.8% of the entire empire's territory. The three other "major" anomalies are the Lyrisian Anomaly, the Grotto of Ilus and the Earendel Dark Nebula. Their origins are still a mystery, spare for those who know that the Earendel Dark Nebula was indirectly created by the Flavros Project.

Governance and politics

The Empyrium is headed by a group of anonymous individuals (whose numbers are truly unknown) in the line of succession to the Emperor, who is also anonymous. Governance is conducted through the Imperial System, in which impoverished and undergoverned planets and systems fall under the direct suzerainty of the Emperor, whereas the more prosperous worlds see higher degrees of autonomy. Planets such as San and Beta Venera II enjoy almost unchecked freedom, whereas colony worlds such as Laconia do not have freedom of the press. From the Imperial standpoint, this is a necessary measure to help the worlds "who cannot help themselves" or, in other words, the worlds under their control need it lest they be led astray and fall into a worser state. Free worlds, although not governed, do enjoy the protection of the Empyrium, and membership within it brings connections to the wider space.

Information control of Imperial System worlds is so strict that rich planets are unaware of what "atrocities" occur - if there are any at all. Thus, there is a degree of skepticism amidst their acceptance of the System, seeing it as benevolent dictatorship to nurture new worlds to future prosperity. Imperial System worlds thus do not show much animosity towards their controllers, but to the richer free worlds often in charge of sector-to-sector governance. One exception is Eos, whom many of the Imperial System worlds admire as a model "free world" given their willingness to give charity, which the Imperial System does permit. Some have argued that the System indeed serves to protect worlds under its suzerainty from the power and influence of the free worlds until they themselves prosper.

Imperial Conference

The Empyrium has no binding legislature. Instead, all systems voluntarily (and almost always) attend the Imperial Conference on Representatives, an eight-day long meeting of system delegates to discuss trade, diplomacy, and the wider outlook of the Collective. The Imperial Authority attends but does not oversee these conferences. Traditionally, conferences were held on Primio, however the planet's distance from the rest of the Collective meant that border worlds often missed the opportunity to attend. From 434 CE, a bidding system opened, mutually agreed on conference participants, on who would win the right to host the Imperial Conference. It traditionally opens with a social gathering and banquet before week-long negotiations begin.

Initially, some staunch traditionalist free worlds such as Beta Venera II did not attend the conferences withholding the sector from representation (in stark contrast to the wishes of System planets within the Beta Venera sector). However, since 474 CE / 14 AA, all integrated systems of the Empyrium are in regular attendance. Because of the Imperial System, the Imperial Conference unofficially acts as a confederate legislature for only the free worlds.

Attitude towards non-member systems

Only 63 star systems within the Empyrium are integrated member states. Intelligent, sometimes humanoid life is known to exist on non-member star systems within the borders of the Empyrium, but both the Imperial Authority and the majority of the Imperial Conference adopt a strict hands-off approach to worlds unless they are known to be space-faring. Non-member systems that achieve this are elevated to candidacy status pending a transitional period into Empyrean integratio. This can take decades though, as the appearance of a new member system within a sector demands investigation into the managing of resources within it, as well as holistically across borders. The last time (other than Eos) when a planet within the Empyrean borders joined the Empyrium was when Earendel was admitted. Eos was an outlying case, whose candidacy was fast-tracked when Wisteria vouched for their integration.

Beyond its borders and unclaimed space, the Empyrium holds an isolationist policy due in part to its self-sufficiency, but also to its unwillingness to participate in galactic conflict. As a result. the Empyrium has no standing army outside of the Imperial Authority's enforcement operatives and the border control. Entry into the collective is strictly controlled through four entry points known as "vectors." One is located due east of Sadiym, one west of Centuria, one south of Althani, and one north of Laconia. Each vector allows transit through the region in which they enter into - for example, the vector at Sadiym allows transit only through Greater Empyrium. This means that ships that do not wish to make the arduous journey around the Empyrium's borders to access a region on the opposite side often enter at the closest side then arrive at special trading ports that transit foreign goods across regions.

There are exceptions to this system - one of which is the Western New Colonies, which lacks any direct connection to a vector. In this instance, ships bound for Aclede are allowed entry at Vector A given that a border officer is on board. Ships bound in the Ilus branch are allowed entry at Vector B. Ships bound for Earendel Dark Nebula (situated in Greater Empyrium, but whose only light lane transits Western New Colonies space) must pass through Vector D only to allow for clearance into the tightly-controlled space. When the transport of people is involved, special permits must be applied for to transit across regions. Altogether, this system functions to keep external security as tight as possible, while also allowing for the easier tracing of people and cargo. The Empyrium employs extensive border control that tracks unlaid (but potential) light lanes away from the vectors that aim to stop illegal crossings.

Holistic management of resources

Non-member systems that lie outside the Empyrean borders receive the same rights as those within, meaning colony worlds can be established on uninhabited planets. However, colonies are again universally disallowed within Empyrium borders, due to fears that a cluster of burgeoning planets could upset the balance of power and resources in the Collective, which has already been divided into sectors to allocate resources to systems or groups of systems. With regards to resource harvesting both within, outside and in colony areas of the Empyrium, a hands-off approach is taken for all planets deemed suitable for intelligent life, even those that do not possess intelligent life to begin with. This is due to a widely held philosophy of the "nurture principle" - that life should be allowed to develop at any stage, including before abiogenesis.

Integrated member systems

Systems of Empyrium (work in progress) ((can the table start collapsed already?)) Collapse

	Name of system	Grid coordinates	System type	Planet HQ	Representatives
	San and Eos	I9	Free system	San	Wisteria (high representative) Guinevere (deputy representative) Carbonado Isla Amesidian Black Opal
	Sarihun	I9	Free system	Sarihun
	Earendel Dark Nebula	J7	Free system	No planets / Earendel Outpost	Earendel (high representative) Minerva (deputy representative) Clotho
	Iota Ophiuchi	J8	Free system	Iophiuchi
	Suwnata and Sanasiu	I8	Imperial system with three free worlds	Sanasiu
	Sacarpe	H9	Free system	Sacarpe-3
	Aureola	H9	Imperial System
	Jovis	H9	Imperial system
	Eta Occidens	I9	Imperial system
	Beta Venera	I9	Imperial system with two free worlds	Beta Venera II	Varak (high representative) Ayam Kamari (deputy representative) 3 unknown non-lead representatives
	Mansio	I9	Imperial system
	Sentor	I9	Free system
	Corvid	I9	Free system
	Althani	I9	Free system
	Thamania	I9	Imperial system
	Alqadim	I9	Imperial system
	Methuselah	J9	Imperial system
	Arbaea	J9	Free system
	Rysolith	J9	Free system
	Alsadu	J9	Imperial system
	Pertel	J9	Free system	Pertel 4
	Alwarada	J9	Free system
	Elkhalod	J9	Imperial system
	Lithid	J9	Free system
	Almas	J9	Imperial system	Almas 7
	Samak	K9	Free system
	Tsadenia	K9	Free system
	Primio	K9	Free system
	Alsujin	K9	Imperial system
	Velian	K9	Imperial system
	Empyrium	K10	Free system except for Alkid	Alkid
	Eisan	K10	Imperial system
	Centuria	I8	Imperial system
	Nemelia	I8	Imperial system
	Elsekelan	I8	Imperial system
	Ilus	I8	Imperial system
	Shafra	I8	Imperial system
	Deira	I8	Imperial system
	Elsidiya	I8	Free system
	Chi Ignota	I8	Free system
	Aclede	J8	Free system
	Qophia	J8	Free system
	I-8	J8	Imperial system	Ei
	Lazuryi	J8	Imperial system
	Melchizedek	J8	Imperial system
	Yonasan	J8	Free system
	Yazharim	J8	Imperial system
	Alkeban	J8	Free system
	Estoxxhe	J8	Free sector	Estoxxhe Station
	Veriyan	J7	Imperial system
	Corvidium	J7	Imperial system
	Mukhatara	K8	Imperial system
	Eleazar	K8	Imperial system
	Sadiym	K8	Imperial system
	Liresente	K8	Imperial system
	Ix	K8	Imperial system
	Beta Colonia	K8	Imperial system
	Saia	K8	Imperial system
	Laconia	K7	Imperial system		Lyris Amaliana (high representative) Vacant deputy representative
	New Earendel	K7	Imperial system
	Ivrim	K7	Imperial system
	Iamat	K7	Imperial system
	Orkus	L8	Imperial system

Imperial system